Smoke and Mirrors
by twilightlightning
Summary: Because Sakura loves too much, she would never get a chance to be happy, would she?


Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. You already know. Reviews are appreciated.

000

Lovingly, she stroked his face. She stared into his painful cerulean depths, drowning in his grief, his worries and his anxieties. She felt suffocated by the burden he was constantly immersed in. She couldn't understand how he managed to keep the horrors of his life at bay; she couldn't understand how anyone could be so selfless.

But then again, maybe she did.

She understood sacrifice. She understood sacrificing her pride and her ego for the success of the village, as well as the lives of its citizens. She understood forfeiting a battle to claim the war. She understood severing the ties with her hateful parents, the only family she'd ever known, choosing to dissociate herself from the strife and hatred directed towards her best friend, her love. She understood sacrificing the last of herself to protect his dream and his future.

She understood giving, even when she had nothing left. Countless nights, endless surgeries, infinite missions and requests for killing or saving lives never subsided. She remembered that especially bloody night in Suna, when they'd been surprised by lurking Stone and Sound ninja, ambushed in the middle of a moonless night. Blood everywhere- in the trees, the folds of her gloves, the pores of skin- became indiscernible, mixing with the grains of sand, and every cell of her being. She remembered the dull drain of chakra, incessantly flowing into decimated shinobi. She remembered blacking out from chakra exhaustion, waking up in a sorry excuse for a makeshift infirmary, popping three soldier pills, and going right back to numbly pumping green chakra, trying to stem that viscous, ruby blood. She remembered forgetting why she was there in the first place, only being aware that she was closing a punctured lung to stop some ninja's paradoxical breathing. She remembered golden-blonde hair, chastising cerulean eyes, and angrily stating she didn't care if she passed out all week, that she wouldn't let any of the fortunate ninja living leave behind widows or orphans. She would give her life to never see another struggle like the one she loved most, if she could help it.

She was no stranger to suffering, either. She knew the pain of having no one, of feeling utterly alone when he left her all those years ago to make himself stronger for her; when the Uchiha rejected her and left her on a cold, hard bench; and when her sensei helplessly stared at her with remorse of what she should have been. She suffered, enduring long days and nights, denying herself of any weaknesses or distractions that would inhibit her growth. She suffered along with her love, always getting so close to the promise that her love made her, only for it to drift farther, fall faster, and vanish completely into a twisted darkness. She suffered when she saw how he suffered, struggling to do what he thought was making her happy. She suffered as she struggled to convey her true feelings.

She only wanted the two of them to stick together, to grow together.

She wanted to watch him become a legend throughout the world, and she wanted to be there, right alongside him.

She wanted him to make Tsunade enjoy her life, and to live care free for the remaining bit of it.

She realized she wanted to be comforted by that smile, that determination, that stubborn streak of can-do attitude. She wanted to laugh freely and openly at everything he thought funny. She wanted to support him in those rare times he needed a wall. She wanted him to trust her like she had never trusted anyone so much before. She wanted to share every thought, every feeling, every moment that a ninja career allowed with sunshine hair and eyes of fathomless blue depths. She wanted him to know that she never wanted to see another day without him in it.

She suffered because she wanted him, because she fell in love with him.

She felt warm lips pressed against her hand, and her gaze drifted back to his.

_I don't ever want to be without you._

He knew how she felt, and she felt what he knew.

Suddenly, there were tears. There was a wall, or something firm, and she was pressed against it. Hands rushed through fields of golden wheat and vibrant roses. Need pulsed through silent longing, radiating fiercely between two tormented entities.

A gasp for air and a blurry, unfocused pair of emeralds filled fathomless blue depths.

_Marry me. _

There was field of roses and gold, a gasp, gently streaming tears, and a quiet _I can't._

It was all just smoke and mirrors.

000

"_Then let it be that Haruno Sakura, at the request of the Fifth Hokage, most honorable leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, has been assigned a mission to infiltrate the Sound Country to eliminate the Otokage, Uchiha Sasuke, in sight of enemy ninja. You are to die only after you kill Uchiha Sasuke, in sight of the enemy, by any means necessary._

_You will be deployed shortly after the anticipated siege of Rain Country. This mission is S-Class, Class One ANBU classified level. Under no circumstances are you to divulge any information regarding your mission to any person, civilian or shinobi. Under no circumstances are you to be seen departing for your mission, or to give any evidence of this mission existing verbally, non-verbally, or via any existing fashion. Under no circumstances are you to deviate from normal behavior._

_This mission, at the cost of your life, will save not only your village and its people, but as well as the other shinobi nations. Your sacrifice will ensure peace throughout the world. Your service to your village will not be forgotten._

_You will be summoned to the Hokage's office before deployment. Take only what you will need._

_Your assets will be given to the remaining members of your family, or to the specified others dictated in your shinobi will, to be created before deployment._

_Failure is not an option." _

_Sakura bowed, taking her leave as she glanced in Tsunade's direction. _

_Tsunade did not meet her eyes._

The Hokage's seal on the decoy missive she had been given was sloppy, as if it the hand that signed it had been shaking uncontrollably.

000

_Sakura understood why the Hokage was rambling at the moment. She understood the interspersed message Tsunade was so fiercely trying to convey with subtle emphasis on words, and by the aggrieved expression in her eyes. _

_Sakura knew that the Council had overruled Tsunade's passionate attempts to find some other way. She knew that the old war dogs of the Council were hastily grabbing at peace. She knew that this was another opportunity- an easier option than taking the responsibility of establishing and maintaining peace- to eliminate two of the world's most powerful shinobi, and thus alleviate tensions amongst the shinobi nations, however temperamental. _

_She knew Tsunade had argued her voice hoarse, smashed countless objects, and blatantly threatened all of the council members. She knew Tsunade had been threatened to be voted out of her job, her life, her only means of protecting everything she had left to care about, if she didn't assign the missive. _

_She knew Tsunade felt low, lowest of low, for betraying the closest thing she had for a daughter._

_Still, she trusted her._

_The emotionless ramble had subsided. Sakura looked up to find a pen and her final will. _

_She wrote. She signed._

_She ignored the sound of splintering wood, and the rapid increases of the Hokage's breathing. She ignored the Hokage's shaking hand, taking it only out of requirement. She ignored the pressure on her hands begging her to make eye contact, begging her to understand what she knew as life. _

_She ignored everything; she wouldn't make this harder on anyone._

_She ignored the strangled cry and the loud smash of a bottle against a wall as she walked down the hallway leading away from the Hokage's desk._

There she was, cautiously speeding through the flat, grassy, open fields that signified the border between Grass and Sound. Sasuke's hideout wasn't too far from the border. She knew the ostentatious structure lodged on the rising slope of the rocky hillside was the place he currently resided. He was never one for discretion.

She knew, however, that he wouldn't come quietly. She also knew he wouldn't come unless every useless pawn in his possession was destroyed. She didn't have time for that.

A diversion, perhaps, to lure all of Sasuke's lackeys away from his threshold… Even then, she would still have to get through a few people, probably that awful red-haired banshee and that weird Kisame- wannabe. And that tall, orange-haired one…

Naruto was the only person that had ever been able to unsettle Sasuke. Funny that she, Sakura, the one who had been overlooked the entire time Team Seven was still functional, would be the one to truly end the existence of the last Uchiha. Sakura the Nobody, Sakura the girl from the civilian family, Sakura, the girl who'd stood too many moments in the shadows watching the backs of her team had finally come forward, only to stab the life out of them.

Sasuke's largest flaw had always been underestimation. He was blinded by his pride, always comforted by the mere thought that he was superior to everyone. No one else, in his mind, had a drive like he did. No one could relate to him. No one understood his pain. No one would ever be able to understand the wounds that scarred him. But truly, no one would ever understand him, because he didn't want to be understood. Lost in his path of revenge, he just wanted to destroy.

And Team 7 just happened to be caught in the middle of it.

She was too smart and too powerful for any one shinobi to easily take her down. She was aware that Konoha's role in every single war amongst the shinobi nations had left bitter tastes in the various flavors of the past. Konoha was trying to save tail by ridding themselves of her, a way for her to become the perfect scapegoat for centuries of hate and war. _She bravely saved everyone on Konoha, selflessly sacrificing her life for the future of the world. She would die a true shinobi, sacrificing her life in order to create peace among the nations_.

Minus one prominent ninja meant one less threat for other nations to worry about. Getting rid of Sasuke meant destroying the last international threat; destroying Sasuke meant eliminating the last known member of Akatsuki; destroying Sasuke meant that Konoha could atone for centuries of grievances.

She knew this was also a ploy to keep Naruto away from his dream of becoming Hokage, however futile it was. The remaining Root members of the council were grasping at any chance to take control of the new ninja era, but it would be to no avail. Sakura had already done everything in her power to deter them. This was the Council's last attempt to dissolve Naruto's network of strong allies.

Maybe, just maybe, she was his most precious person. But she wasn't his _only_ precious person.

What the council failed to realize was that Naruto was loved far and wide outside of Konoha. He was personally close friends with two other kage. Everywhere Naruto went, he subconsciously affected everyone and everything with his charisma. He changed hearts. He earned respect. He made friends where there were no friends to be made. While sending her on a suicide mission also meant getting rid of another candidate for Hokage (though she would never vie for it; it had always belonged to the one she loved), they blatantly failed to realize that there were simply _too _many people that believed in Naruto. Those old codgers were digging their own graves faster. As soon as Naruto was chosen as the next Hokage, they would be unceremoniously ejected from their lifelong positions. She had delved into the old archives, searching for bylaws and any subjective clauses that Naruto would need to justify his actions. Sakura and Shikamaru would've been the ones to make sure Naruto didn't make any hasty, ramen-influenced decisions.

The grass fields around her became sparse and rockier as she gained more ground towards the Sound. She pushed away all thoughts as she focused on her task ahead. It would do no good to anyone if she failed, like she had so many other times…

She would succeed.

As she summoned Katsuya, entering the beginning phase of her diversion, she painfully hoped that Naruto would be able to move on, because he most certainly wouldn't forgive her for what she was about to do.

She expected nothing less from the last Uchiha. Getting past all of Orichimaru's former experiments and prisoners had been easy enough, but Sasuke's ever-loyal snake lackeys had proved to be quite the challenge.

She expected that, however. She knew from the first time she saw his new team, that they had become attached to that passionate part of Sasuke that she and Naruto had once been so familiar with. Somehow, stoic Sasuke had managed to let a part of himself, his true self, surface through his revenge-encrusted exterior. Team Hebi had seen the change that Sasuke _could_ bring to the world.

Sakura wondered what they saw in him now, because she was fairly certain Sasuke didn't know what _he_ wanted anymore.

The hardest for her to dispatch was the girl. She fought like a combination of Zabuza and Rock Lee. Sakura had to destroy her entire chakra system and crush both of her forearms just to prevent the girl from using her deadly chakra-absorbing techniques. Sakura would've still been fighting her, no doubt, had Sasuke not shoved his sword through the red-haired girl's chest, muttering something about _uselessness_, _deadweight_, and _not being able to defeat her. _Sakura watched as Sasuke shoved the red-haired girl's limp body off of his katana, fighting the rising bile in her throat. The dying girl glanced at Sasuke and the viscous fluid staining the ground, mortified beyond belief. In the flickering light of the dying girl's eyes, Sakura saw the conclusion the girl had reached, the very same she herself had realized on that cold, hard night:

_Sasuke didn't love her. He loved nothing._

As the dying girl crumpled to the ground, Sakura briefly empathized with her. She knew the feeling of unrequited love.

She knew what it was to love so fiercely, so ardently, so passionately that your very existence depended on it.

She knew that she was fortunate enough to have experienced both of them, but even more so, to have lived the latter.

Her glare hardened and her teeth gnashed at the fact that yet another innocent soul had been ruthlessly abused by Sasuke. She saw what could've been her, what would've been her, had she not fallen into fathomless blue depths, with sunny skies shining brightly overhead.

Sakura turned to face Sasuke, letting him look at the emotions clearly displayed on her visage. She stood still as he advanced with a frenzied gaze. She noted the drying blood on his hands and the caked mud on the soles of his shoes, no doubt a conglomerate of blood, decayed flesh, mothers, fathers, brothers, sons, and blood, blood, blood.

So much blood.

"Aren't you tired?" she asked. He halted for a moment.

Then he advanced with eyes blood red, rivers of crimson tears streaming through the electrically charged air.


End file.
